suspension popping

[drewboy404]

Hello, I have a 92 daytona r/t. I changed the front passenger axle out for an unequal setup, have a quaife diff, engine was centered after work. I recently pulled my transmission and replaced the clutch. I just wanted to ask everyones opinion before i start pulling all the suspension apart to find the problem. The issue is at low speeds like crawling, you can hear popping from both sides of the front suspension. Almost like the pop travels from one side to the other. It has gotten so bad right now, that i dotn drive the car. I did center the engine after replacing the clutch. Have a bit of push on both axles throught the wheel bearings. Now one thing i did, which i didnt find out is bad till now, is when i had the transmission out, i pushed the car out of the garage and back in. Apparently that is terrible for the wheel bearings, which seems to be the same setup as my ram with no front cv axles. I did not notice any grinding or anything like that or pull from the car in the past few months. The front sway bar was removed and didnt remedy the problem. No grease leaking from anywhere except oil leak from bad oil seal on transmission. Thanks for the help, got to keep this thing running

[cordes]

I would give the front wheels a shake to feel for any bearing looseness. I would also check the motor mounts and bobble strut to insure they're in place and assembled correctly. I've seen the driver's side trans mount bolt mounted through the webbing of the rubber rather than the actual hole for it a couple of times. That never produces acceptable results.

[GLHNSLHT2]

Ball joints, strut mounts or sway bar.

[wallace]

If you rolled it around without stubs through the wheel bearings that could definitely mess them up.

[Shadowv4l]

Firewall is probably cracked..... ask me how I know. lolz

---------- Post added at 10:19 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:13 AM ----------

2 out of the 3 P bodies i own have split firewalls and My dad's 88 daytona shelby Z had to be welded. It makes a popping noise over slow speed bumps and un-even surfaces. My 94 shadow that iv'e been DDing for 9 years actually started to split the floor pans. I ended up reoving the dash (to do heater core) and while i was in there i welded the crack which went from the tunnel all the way to the passenger side wheel well. It was making all kinds of noises through the years and seemed to be worse at colder temps. It may be tough to see at first because the crack uaually starts behind the heat shield just above the downpipe.

---------- Post added at 10:23 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:19 AM ----------

I also noticed some axles to have a "click or pop" sound when switching from reverse to drive, even with some new axles. I just assume it's play in the outer cv joint, doesn't shake, vibrate, or bind in any way. I just assume it was "messican built" with shitty tolerances.

[drewboy404]

Thanks, I will check the wheels then my mounts. I think there is somthing fishy with the mount on the transmission. Then a slow painful rebuild of the front suspension. Awesome. Gotta tinker to figure I guess

[drewboy404]

Well definatly the ball joints or strut mounts, and im leaning towards the strut mounts. wheel bearings are fine. The firewall is fine, i just checked it and painted it. Thanks for the help everyone. Gonna be a fun weekend

[johnl]

This is likely unrelated but it makes a similar sound.

When replacing the struts, sometimes the "hat" bushings (that go over the strut rod and sit on top of the strut and then go through the strut rubber to be tightened with the strut nut) are slightly too long, or "proud" of the strut rubber's cast in bushing and that clearance will result in a worrisome noise.

[drewboy404]

Actually johnl, you have something here. I am about to take the struts off, and they are not feeling right. Which would be funny if there was any problem with them since i have driven around on them for a couple years. Then again, I do live in Charleston and the cobble stone streets or the rest that are littered with pot-holes could have knocked something loose.

[drewboy404]

Thanks all for the help, i found the problem. I re-did everything on the front suspension to see if anything was weird. I just noticed the K-frame was shifted a bit from one side to the other. I checked its fasteners and found that they have worked thier way loose. I re-aligned it and loctite-ed it in place. Now to give it a go

[drewboy404]

Well after a month of tearing apart the front suspension (weekends). I still have a popping noise. You can even hear an intial pop in the suspension when you lower the car. This is what i did:

Replaced ball joints
Tightened k-frame to uni-body
tighened everything to spec
removed strut bearings and upper mounts, checked and aligned notches to bottom of strut
checked to see if i had coils swapped. One eibach had an L (drivers) the other R (Passenger) after the engraved part number


The only other thing i think could be the problem is an axle. But I could not tell anythign wrong with the axle. both sides seemed to move around smoothly

As for the strut tower height, not sure what to check on that avenue.

Any ideas?

The only other thing i am going to do is do another alignment of the engine

[wheming]

Sway bar brackets tight?

I actually have a l popping right now on my Spirit but have not found the time to diagnose yet.

[turbovanman²]

What are you using for control arm bushings? Are those thru bolts tight?

[drewboy404]

alright, the sway bar is not even attached. as for the control arm bushings, they are poly moog I bought from fwd. they are torqued to 120ft/lbs.

I think I.may look into the steering
if that fails, aligne k-frame and motor
if that fails, measure frame to see if thats not right.

I know it is possible to have coils swapped but I am not sure about struts. they dont seem to be side specific with any markings or look different. (konis)

I appriciate the help. I wont be able to do anything until the weekend, I have an air conditioner unit taking my time

[Johnny]

poly moog .....this is your problem.

[drewboy404]

I would normally believe that. These fit in really snug. I know your products are great, since everything else on the car was made by you.

Looking at it, i think it has something to do with the k-frame/ engine alignment

[Johnny]

Good! Usually they dont fit snug.

[drewboy404]

Must have had the rare ones. Well, that wouldnt have been my only componet that didnt fit right or needed alittle talking before working right.

I rolled the car by hand to feel out where the metallic ting popping noise would be more located. Seems to be at the ball joint area. I just replaced them. I maybe looking into the axles. I think i am going to get a second set and chop them up to hkeep the wheel bearings torqued. Roll the car around and if it is gone, then it has to be the axles, if still there somewhere in the suspension.
I found that it was not part of the steering.

I think this will be the best route and do the alignments. Time to goto the junk yard.

I am starting to hope that it is the axles, and hope hope hope the differential is not having a problem. It is a quaife

[Johnny]

So this popping happens when rolling even on smooth surfaces?

[drewboy404]

Yep.
I did notice one thing, I pulled off the wheels and un-did the axle nuts. I pushed in on the axles to see if one was off-center from eachother. They both have inward movement of about a 1/4". I thought i was supposed to have more inward movment. The car has the same driver's side axle, but i replaced the passenger from one from a dynasty with the 1/4" chopped off for the quaife.

When i put the axles in, i have to remove the steering knuckle from the a-arm, place the axle into trans, then wheel bearing and push the a-arm up into the bottom of the steering knuckle.